Lives Touched - a McRoll in the REAL World story
by Mari217
Summary: An unexpected visit comes at a very good time.


_Sammy & Ilna - Thanks for being the best of everything - especially friends._

_REAL McRollers & Readers - thank you all - always._

_This one's for my Army Uncle Gaspar "Perry" Perricone. Because if not for him saving my dad's life in 1943 (for which he earned a Bronze Star) I wouldn't be here. _

* * *

**Lives Touched**

Steve got home close to midnight after wrapping a gang related shooting the team got called in on. After peeking in on Angie, he walked into the bedroom to find Catherine was awake, reading through a case file he'd forwarded to her earlier. She put it away and settled back against the headboard after kissing him hello.

"Hungry? There's eggplant parm."

"I'm good, Danny and I stopped on the way back to HQ. The cammo pajamas fit her, hmm?"

He pulled on sleep shorts and looked over his shoulder when she didn't respond to his comment about their daughter having grown into the pink cammo PJs Joan insisted she had to send Cousin Angie when she spotted them on a trip to Target with Aaron and Mary..

"Cath?" She had a faraway look when Steve slid in beside her.

"Sorry, what?" She smiled and placed a hand on his cheek to kiss him.

"Penny for 'em?"

She blinked and smiled at him. "I had a visit today from a girl who's dad I served with. Omari Wells."

He shifted to give her his full attention. "Really?"

"Mmhmm. She's on vacation and said he'd talked about me so she wanted to meet me."

Steve's brow furrowed slightly. "Her father okay?"

"Yeah." She took a breath and smiled softly. "She just wanted to say thanks."

* * *

**Earlier that day**

Catherine?" Jen stepped into her office after a quick tap on the open door frame. "You have a visitor at security I think you should see, she doesn't have an appointment, but…" The younger woman shrugged with a smile. "I think you'll want to meet her."

Catherine trusted her assistant's instincts well enough that she nodded. If Jen suggested she meet an unscheduled visitor, there was a reason. "Send her in."

Minutes later, Jen reentered, flanked by one of the HPD officers who were being extra diligent in vetting all visitors while they worked on the Fairiborz case. "Lieutenant Rollins, this is Cassidy Wells."

The young woman offering her hand was smiling openly.

As Catherine responded in kind to her, "Nice to meet you, Ma'am," she was contemplating where she may have encountered her. She was a little shorter than Catherine, with wide brown eyes and cafe au lait skin that was perfect in the way twenty-something year old skin often was. Cassidy wore a blue and white print dress that hit just above her knees and when she worried her lip in a tiny show of nerves the gesture was familiar enough to jog Catherine's memory.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I didn't mean to interrupt your day. I took a chance stopping by. My fiance said it was crazy, you're the governor's chief of staff, but ... I mean, I was already on Oahu and if it weren't for you..." She laughed lightly and shook her head. "I'm babbling, sorry. Thanks for seeing me, I'm …"

Catherine placed a hand on her arm. "Omari's daughter. It took me a minute, but you resemble him and," she gestured, "you do that same lip thing as your dad." She opened her arms and Cassidy stepped into a hug. "It's great to meet you. How is Omari?"

Cassidy nodded. "Dad's good. I didn't tell him I was gonna do this. I just wanted to meet you and say thanks, you know?" Catherine waved her to sit and took a seat in the other visitor's chair. When she did, Cassidy continued, "He told us if it weren't for you he wouldn't be here. I always wanted to meet you. And thank you. Because you saved my father, Lieutenant. And if he wasn't here, my little brother wouldn't be either." She took a breath. "He was born in 2007. So you really saved them both."

"Cassidy …" Catherine began, suddenly filled with emotion at the young woman's words. "We were all lucky that day."

"The way dad tells it, you had orders to go north. You changed the direction the last minute and saved every person in the squad. So … thank you."

"I …" she started to say she was simply doing her duty. She had read and reread the intel because it felt off somewhere. How it was simply gut instinct that made her change strategy last minute.

What she did was nod and squeeze the young woman's hands. "I'm glad I was there."

Cassidy hugged her once more, before pulling back with a dazzling smile. "Me, too."

* * *

**Present**

Steve ran a hand behind his neck and shook his head. It was clear the visit was a good one. "That's… You've touched a lot of lives, Cath. Changed so many for the better." He laced their fingers. "I'm happy she came by."

Catherine smiled again. With the intensity of dealing with Fairiborz and the memories it brought simmering to the surface, the happenstance of Cassidy Wells' visit and heartfelt message had come at a good time.

Echoing the earlier response from Omari's daughter, she squeezed Steve's hand and nodded. "Me, too."

_# End. Thanks for reading!_

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